[thesportscritic]

She's Back!!!!!!!!!!! Here is the story from Chris Lang from Charlotte at Media day yesterday.

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
October 12, 2006

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Olaf Lange stood on the grassy hillside behind Liberty's Hancock Athletic Center in August, taking in an early Flames football practice, but basketball wasn't far from his mind.
Lange, LU's associate head women's basketball coach, began talking about Megan Frazee and her swift rehabilitation from the torn ACL that ended her sensational freshman season after just 14 games.

One remark Lange made stood out: Frazee actually improved her vertical jump since undergoing surgery. Any thought that it would take some time for Frazee to ease back into her role as Liberty's leading scorer and rebounder had dissipated.

Big South Conference coaches and media certainly haven't had any reservations about Frazee's progress. She was named the conference's preseason player of the year Wednesday at the league's basketball tip-off luncheon.

"She was surprised, but she's deserving," Liberty coach Carey Green said of Frazee, who averaged 18.5 points and 9.8 rebounds and shot 52.8 percent from 3-point range in 14 games last year. "Now the expectations are set pretty high for her. I think she can accept those challenges."

Coastal Carolina coach Alan LeForce, who is entering his 10th year in the Big South, said he's not sure he's seen a more complete player come through the conference. He said this not to disparage former LU standout Katie Feenstra, who just finished her second season with the WNBA's San Antonio Silver Stars. But he noted that Feenstra's superior size (6-foot-8 ) was going to make her an impact player no matter her skill level.

"I don't know anything she can't do," LeForce said. "She's the complete package. She can put it on the floor. She can shoot it outside. She can rebound. She can pass it. She's competitive. She can defend.

"If she's back to 85 percent, she's a heck of a player. If she's 100 percent, she's very, very tough. And she'll make a very good team even better."

Without Frazee, Liberty still won its 11th straight Big South regular season championship and earned a 10th straight berth to the NCAA tournament, where LU lost to DePaul in the first round.

Frazee watched that run from the bench, but that may not be a bad thing in the long run. Not only did Liberty learn how to win without its talented forward, but Frazee learned to watch the game through the eyes of a coach.

"Of course, as an athlete, you're not wanting to be on the bench; you'd rather be on the court," Frazee said. "But I didn't have that choice. I just wanted to sit back then and watch the game of basketball from a different perspective. It was a good opportunity to learn some of the aspects and see some of the things you don't always see when you're out on the court."

The time without Frazee was beneficial in one respect. She was so good at times last season that her teammates didn't feel much of a need to help out.

Green said his team had a tendency to "stand around and watch" Frazee play, a sentiment LeForce echoed after watching video of some of Liberty's non-conference games.

"She'd take it on her shoulders and we became a team that was watching her instead of playing with her," Green said. "That's bad. You don't want that to happen."

Frazee said she'll be ready to play when the Flames open the season Nov. 11 at home against Norfolk State, nearly nine full months since blowing out her knee against Coastal Carolina. She's already running at full speed and has learned to trust the knee once again. She said because of the vigorous rehab work, the knee is stronger than ever.

"When I go out there, I realize (the knee) is going to support my body and the impact," Frazee said. "The likelihood of my knee getting messed up again is very small."

With Frazee expected to be at full strength, Big South coaches and media made Liberty a nearly unanimous choice to win the conference title. Twenty-one of 26 voters picked LU. Four chose High Point to win and one picked Radford.

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... th=!sports

[jcmanson]

This group of ladies have a chance to do the same as the last group did that made the Sweet 16. These triplets are special, and with a couple of key ingredients sprinkled in around her they will be tough to beat no matter who they play.

[BJWilliams]

Had a chance to run with the ladies tonight and I gotta say that these gals could make some SERIOUS noise outside of the Big South this year.

[thesportscritic]

as long as we handle business inside of the Big South Conference. Hopefully we will pick up some wins over some great teams in the Non conference portion this season.

[BJWilliams]

Definitely man. Some observations from last night though:

Roli-Anne was out for a little bit. I think she pulled a hamstring. She was back not much later after getting some help from one of the trainers.

Megan is still an inside outside threat from anywhere on the court

The transition game is gonna be dangerous again this year.

Egle and Jamie did not play last night. I think both are recovering from injuries, although I do not have any specifics. Im sure Chris could find out more on that one

[Chris Lang]

Jamie is still recovering offseason surgery to repair that shoulder that was bugging her all of last year.

Egle is having back problems.